Chapter 17 - Arkalo

Birds didn't chirp in the forests of Arkalo, for there were no birds.

As they delved deeper into the forest, the trees changed from their usual pine shape into something more extraordinary. The trees grew tall, as high as redwoods, and they became more spaced out, allowing even drawn wagons to pass through them easily. But the sky remained blocked by the trees' interlocking branches, coating the entire country in night. The only natural sources of light came from the ground, whether it'd be the fireflies or the glowing mushrooms. Peter found himself wondering how such a land could house a village, let alone a kingdom.

"Have you been in Arkalo before?" He asked the Elf.

"I have, yes."

"How much longer are we gonna be here? This place gives me the creeps."

"We'll be going through the most narrow part of Arkalo. We'll only be here for a couple of days at most, unless something happens while we're crossing. And if that happens, the journey's most likely over anyways."

He shuddered at the thought of that.

As they continued through the forest, several disconcerting noises, sounding like animal roars, echoed through the trees. He gripped the handle of the revolver, his hand shaking uncontrollably. He looked at his friends. Maya seemed relatively fine; concerned, but fine. The Elf maintained her stoic nature, unaffected by the forests' manipulations. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He wasn't this jittery when he was about to fight to the death. What was getting to him now?

Suddenly, a growl burst out behind a tree in front of them.

The trio immediately readied their weapons, surveying their surroundings as best they could.  Yellow eyes stared at them from the dark, slowly coming closer. As they did, they exposed more of their bodies; first, their head, then their bodies. They looked like black panthers and stalked like one too, but their heads consisted only of bone, their eyes floating inside their sockets. Multiple of these beasts showed up, encircling the three together. The Elf gripped her glaive tightly, watching all of them for any movements.

"Duck." She said.

"What?"

"Duck. NOW."

The two did as they told, dropping to the ground immediately as a panther jumped. The Elf, who remained standing, swung her glaive, cleaving the panther in half almost immediately. No blood spewed from the panther; its halves fell violently to the ground, disappearing into smoke. 

More panthers pounced, trying to overwhelm her. She didn't have any of it. She swung her glaive around, maintaining momentum as she cut through the panthers. Dirt around them flew up, struck by the glaive during its swings. Ten panthers turned to six. Six turned to three. Three turned to one. By the time it realized it was by itself, the Elf cleaved it in half once more, turning it into dust.

"That should be all of them," the Elf said. "Best we keep moving."

The two got up and followed her once again at a quicker pace. "What the hell were those?"

"Skullhead panthers. They're monsters specifically created to kill. They've propagated all throughout Arkalo, able to do so because of the darkness."

"Does the sun kill them?"

"The sun, and anything that produces lots of heat. Most people use torches, but we wouldn't have lit one up in time."

"How does anyone live in conditions like these?"

"They're all in villages surrounded by walls. Typically, nobody goes out by themselves, even for a simple visit between places. Arkalo's far too dangerous to go alone; only the best warriors are allowed to go outside by themselves."

"You seemed to handle yourself pretty well, though."

"Skullhead panthers are probably the most common and the least dangerous predators in Arkalo. You can end up against a skullhead gorilla or, even worse, a death whisperer. I'll need your proper assistance for those if they come after us."

He grimaced.

"In a couple of hours, we're entering a village. That's where we'll sleep for the night."

"We're not camping?"

"Too dangerous to camp. We need the protection of a village, even if I don't want to be seen. Besides, judging from the way you've been antsy this entire time, I don't think you'd accept sleeping out here."

He didn't have anything to say to the truth.

True to her word, they ended up at a small village, surrounded by sturdy wooden walls. Inside, it contained a small farm of carrots and tomatoes, along with some houses and, most importantly, a hotel. To his surprise, the hotel contained far more than he expected: not only did it have plumbing for the toilets and sinks, it also had rooms dedicated to bathing. The only caveat was that multiple rooms shared the same restrooms and bathrooms: three rooms to one. Maya and the Elf got one room, while Peter got a smaller room all to himself. After months of traveling, it felt really odd to be by himself again, but he didn't mind.

Especially because he could finally bathe by himself again.

Of course, he bathed back in Holdenville, but amenities there were much more basic. You had a stall with a drain, a bar of soap, a sponge, and a bucket of water. With no running water, you had to lap water on your body, whether by hand or the sponge. It worked perfectly well, but it was a bit tiresome.

The bathrooms in the hotel, by comparison, were much more advanced. Wooden rectangular tokens laid on a table near the bathtub, all for different temperatures. A slot for the tokens was carved onto a wall; by sliding the token into the slot, the bathtub would fill up with the requested water, and drain once an hour had gone by. Apparently, the time dropped depending on how busy the hotel was, but the hotel was relatively empty today.

After the first hot bath he had since arriving in Deusterra, he went into his room and slept like a baby, falling immediately into Hemofemina's domain.

"Hello, Peter. It's been a while since you've visited me."

"Sorry. Sometimes, I kinda forget I'm a blood mage."

"It's alright. You've been quite busy, especially with the snake gunslinger. How did it feel, fighting someone?"

"I, um... not good. Are you disappointed?"

She shrugged. "I'm not the type of goddess to try controlling their patrons. Too much work. The only thing I request from you is that you don't die."

"Right. So, why did you call me here?"

"You know when your leader said there might be a blood gem in the Tarlands?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"She may very well be right about that. I can sense something in the far distance. You'll have to get closer for me to be sure, but if it's there... you know what to do. The only issue is your friend, yes?"

"Maya?"

"Yes. She still doesn't know, does she? How will you take in the blood gem without her seeing you? Go behind a tree and stab yourself?"

"Uh... I'll have to figure it out later. The Tarlands doesn't seem to be a particularly nice place to be unconscious for a couple of hours anyway."

"That's true. Anyway, there's another tip I wanted to give you before I dismiss you."

"What's that?"

"So far, you've only used the power of blood to cut into objects. I'm not saying you shouldn't use it for that purpose. But blood can do more than just turn into shapes and cut people. And when you need it to, it'll know what to do."

"What does that mean?"

"Just that you don't need to be doing anything you haven't been doing already. Blood listens to you, understands you, obeys you. If it's capable of it, it can do it. Just a thought."

"Alright. I guess I'll keep that in mind."

"Good. You're free to leave if you want. I have a feeling you won't have an opportunity to rest like this for a little while."

Peter took her offer, allowing himself to drift off into a state of unconsciousness.